


Inner voice

by LostinFic



Series: Any David Tennant character x Any Billie Piper character [12]
Category: Mansfield Park (2007), The Decoy Bride (2011)
Genre: Crossover Pairings, F/M, Ficlet, Not Shippy, Teninch Fic, teninch bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 19:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6390820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostinFic/pseuds/LostinFic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James' worries about writing a modern-day adaptation of Mansfield Park manifest themselves in an unexpected way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inner voice

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the Teninch fic bingo. Prompt: fighting over the last bite.

A silhouette in James’ peripheral vision made him look up from his laptop screen. A young blond woman stood by his table.

“Hello!” she said.

“Oh, not you again.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault I keep showing up.”

“Then who’s fault is it?”

“Yours.” She smiled wide and bright. “I’m your conscience.”

James’ head dropped to his keyboard with a groan.

“May I?”

She tucked her long skirts under her legs and sat down in front of him. Her period clothing really clashed with the Starbucks decor, but he’d seen more outrageous in L.A. before.

Fanny Price had been appearing to him for the last month or so, ever since his agent had convinced him to write a modern day adaptation of _Mansfield Park_. He had his qualms about it, obviously, but his agent had cajoled him into it— the fox and the crow— praising his writing style, and dangling before him promises of great sales and a TV adaptation. At first, he would only see Fanny from a distance, on the subway or walking in front of his flat, then she’d started smiling, waving, and now she was talking to him.

“My conscience, really?”

“It is kind of my main character trait: a strong moral sense. If you don’t know that about me, you should step away from the keyboard immediately.”

James gawked at her. She took a bite out of his cheesecake.

“Oi, that’s mine.”

He pulled the plate back to him with a glare and took a bigger bite.

“Tell me what you’re worried about, James.”

He sighed and looked out the window. “It could ruin my career. I’d be the bloke who tried to write Austen, that’s not what I want to be known for. What if it’s a disaster, I’ll— Will you stop eating my food?”

Fanny swallowed another piece of his cake. “It’s so much better than what Mrs. Norris cooks.”

“You’re fictional!”

“Yes, so it’s all going in your stomach anyway.”

James picked up the piece of cake with his hand and stuffed it in mouth. Despite his best efforts, it wouldn’t all fit in, and he almost choked himself. He put the remaining half back on the plate.

“Oh, James.” Fanny stood up and put her arms around his shoulders, rubbing his arm to comfort him.

She was just a figment of his imagination, yet it felt so real, so soothing.

“I’m afraid I’ll never write another book,” he confessed. “If I don’t write this one, I… I don’t have any other idea.”

“See, don’t you feel better now that you’ve admitted it to yourself?”

James shrugged.

“You’re a brilliant writer,” she added.

“You think?”

“Yes, I do. I’m sure you can write this adaptation if you want to. But it’s more of an ethical matter, isn’t it? You have to ask yourself: WWJD?”

“What would Jesus do?”

“No. What would Jane do?”

“I think she had more integrity than me… I should talk about it with Katie. I didn’t want her to know I’ve been struggling, but she’s my wife.”

Fanny’s lovely smile and warm arms around him slowly faded. When he looked down, the last of his cake had disappeared too.


End file.
